Methods and systems for distributed processing on consumer devices

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are used to provide distributed processing on a service provider network that includes a plurality of remotely located consumer devices. Each of the remotely located consumer devices includes a processing device. A service is provided from the service provider network to the remotely located consumer devices. Distributed processing of a task on the processing devices of the remotely located consumer devices occurs, the distributed processing being unrelated to the service provided to the consumers. The distributed processing occurs even when the processing devices are in use by corresponding remotely located consumer devices.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. provisional application60/656,897, filed Mar. 1, 2005, which is incorporated herein in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to methods and systems for distributedprocessing on consumer devices. In particular, the present inventionrelates methods and systems for distributed processing even when theconsumer devices are in use by a consumer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There has been a large growth in the deployment of consumer electronicdevices by service providers such as cable, satellite and phonecompanies. These service providers are installing digital consumerelectronic devices to millions of homes annually. In many cases theseconsumer electronic devices are dedicated for the delivery of digitaltelevision programming or other interactive entertainment services.

These consumer electronic devices are being equipped with faster andmore powerful processors. These processors often have more speed andpower than is used by the consumer electronic devices, even during peakusage. Further, the processors may have periods during a day where theyare not used at all, such as during times when the consumer is sleepingor away from home. It would be advantageous if the service providercould find a way to use the extra speed and power of the processor notbeing utilized by the consumer.

In the cable industry, it is common for a cable service provider toprovide a cable box to a consumer so that the consumer may receive cableservice. Typically, the cable service provider will retain ownership ofthe cable box, and may charge the consumer a monthly fee for each boxprovided. These cable boxes are being equipped with faster and morepowerful processors. While the cable boxes of today provide moreservices than in the past, such as interactive guides, pay per view,movies on demand, etc., even these extra services may often underutilize the processor. Further, because the cable service providerusually retains ownership of the cable box and the processor it isequipped with, it would be advantageous if the cable service providercould find a way to use the extra speed and power of the processor notbeing utilized by the consumer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods are used to provide distributed processing on aservice provider network that includes a plurality of remotely locatedconsumer devices. Each of the remotely located consumer devices includesa processing device. A service is provided from the service providernetwork to the remotely located consumer devices. Distributed processingof a task on the processing devices of the remotely located consumerdevices occurs, the distributed processing being unrelated to theservice provided to the consumers. The distributed processing occurseven when the processing devices are in use by corresponding remotelylocated consumer devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a system in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system in conjunction with embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention provides systems and methods for distributedprocessing on a service provider network that includes a plurality ofremotely located consumer devices. Distributed processing of a task onthe processing devices of the remotely located consumer devices occurs,the distributed processing being unrelated to the service provided tothe consumers. The distributed processing occurs even when theprocessing devices are in use by corresponding remotely located consumerdevices.

Currently, there is a need for processing tasks to be performed thatrequire extremely high processing speeds or processing of extremelylarge data space. For example, such needs exist in the following areas:Bioinformatics, Chemical, and Drug Research in areas such molecularmodeling to screen millions of compounds from a chemical database;Financial Services for portfolio optimization, risk analytics, and tradeanalysis; Energy in areas such as seismic processing and reservoirsimulation calculations; Government in areas such as econometricmodeling, imagery analysis, geospatial intelligence, weather, astronomy,physics, and other scientific research; and Application ServiceProviders for database intensive applications such as search engines.The present invention provides for distributed processing on a largescale to provide such extremely high processing speeds.

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of the presentinvention. Computing device 100 is suitable for use with the presentinvention. The computing device 100 may include a processor 110, amemory 120, a user input 130 and a display 140. The memory 120 maycontain software to be run in conjunction with processor 110, and maycause images to be displayed on display 140. The software may bespecifically designed to cause computing device 100 to implement thepresent invention. Computing device 100 may be one of various types ofcomputing devices, such as a workstation, a personal computer, a server,a head-end in a cable system, or any other type of computing device.

The processor 110 may be may be any type of processor, such as ageneral-purpose microprocessor (i.e., a Pentium series microprocessormanufactured by the Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.). Inanother embodiment, the processor 110 can be an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), which has been designed to implement in itshardware and/or firmware at least a part of a method in accordance withembodiments of the present invention, or a RISC (reduced instruction setcomputer) processor.

Memory 120 can be any device capable of storing analog or digitalinformation, such as a hard disk, Random Access Memory (RAM), Read OnlyMemory (ROM), flash memory, a compact disk, a magnetic tape, a floppydisk, and any combination thereof, for example.

User input 130 can be any type of input device, such as a keyboard,keypad, pointing device, microphone, mouse, wired or wireless remotecontrol, touch pad, touch screen, a port(s) to attach other inputdevices, voice recognition software, etc. Any type of input device willfunction in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

The display 140 can be any type of display or screen that is capable ofdisplaying images. For example, the display may be a CRT or LCD monitor,a heads-up display, a television, etc. The display 140 may bestructurally included as part of the electronic device, or may bephysically separated from but connected with the other components ofdevice 100, such as a monitor in a desktop computer.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of an embodiment of the presentinvention. The system 200 includes a service provider network 210, and aplurality of consumer devices 220. The service provider network 210 mayinclude one or more of the following: a processor, a memory, a display,and software programmed to carry out the functionality of the presentinvention. For example, the service provider network 210 may includeelements such as illustrated in FIG. 1.

The service provider network 210 may be any type of service providernetwork that provides a service to consumers on a consumer device. Forexample, the service provider network 210 may be a cable or satellitetelevision network, an Internet Service Provides (ISP), a cellular phoneservice provider, a portable computer service provider, etc. the serviceprovider network may provide a service to the consumer devices by anymeans, such as over wired or fiber optic cables, wirelessly, bysatellite transmission, through a phone network, etc.

The consumer devices 220 include a processor 230, and may include otherelements, such as the elements illustrated in FIG. 1, as well assoftware to carry out required functionality. The consumer devices 220receive a consumer service from the service provider network 210. Theconsumer devices 220 may be any type of consumer device that can receivea consumer service, such as a cellular phone, a computer, a portablecomputing device, a set top box in a cable television or satellitesystem (or hardware/software built in to a television to receive suchcable or satellite television), a camera, a combination of any of theabove, etc. The consumer device 220 receives a service from the serviceprovider network 210 as described above.

The consumer device may be purchased by the consumer, or may often berented by the consumer from the service provider. For example, cable orsatellite boxes are usually rented from a service provider by theconsumer. The processor 230 of the functions with other elements of theconsumer device 220 to provide the desired service to a consumer. Theprocessor 230 may be a powerful processor that may be greatlyunderutilized even when the consumer device 220 is utilizing theprocessor 230 to it's fullest extent. Further, when the consumer is notutilizing the consumer device at all, the power of the processor is notused. The present invention utilizes the processor 230 on consumerdevices 220 in a service provider network 200 to perform distributedprocessing, even when the processor 230 is being utilized by theconsumer device 220, as further explained below.

FIG. 3 illustrates a system 300 in conjunction with embodiments of thepresent invention. The system 300 includes consumer devices 310, networkdistribution system 340, device management system 350 and servicemanagement system 360. The consumer devices 310 may be any type ofconsumer device that includes a processor and is configured to receive aservice from a service provider, as described above. As one example ofconsumer devices 310, there is illustrated digital set-top boxes 320 anddigital TVs, such as may be used with a cable or satellite televisionsystem, for example. The consumer devices 310 may be connected to thenetwork distribution system 340 by any means, such as by satellite,wireless, cables such as fiber optic cables, etc.

The network distribution system 340 may provide two-way connectivity ofthese consumer devices 310 to a service provider. The service providersystems may include a device management system 350 and a servicemanagement system 360 as shown in FIG. 3. These elements may be used tocontrol delivery of service and distributed processing on the consumerdevices. The distributed processing is processing in addition to andunrelated to services provided to the consumer devices 310, as furtherdiscussed below.

As an example, in a system such as a cable television system, theconsumer devices 310 may receive cable television service, where theconsumer device may be a set-top box 320, for example. A large number ofcustomers are connected to the cable television system, all receivingcable television service from the service provider. Such cabletelevision systems typically utilize set-top boxes in conjunction withdelivery of the cable television service. The set-top boxes aretypically rented from the service provider, and will be equipped withvarious software and hardware to allow delivery of the service to theconsumer via the consumer device. The set-top boxes will include one ormore processor, such as processor 230 illustrated in FIG. 2. theseprocessors are typically much more powerful than needed to accomplishedthe needed functionality of delivering the service to the consumer, evenwhen the consumer is actively using the set-top box to view programs, toview program guides, to view the internet, etc. Further, when theset-top box is not in use, even more power from the processor goesunused.

Accordingly, the present invention will utilize the unused power of theprocessors of one or more of the consumer devices to perform distributedprocessing. This distributed processing may occur even when theprocessor is actively engaged in processing, such as when deliveryvarious consumer services. This is possible due to the excess power ofthe individual processors. The system of the present invention can takea processing task that would normally take enormous processing power,break that task in smaller portions, and distribute the processing tothe various consumer devices 310. The device management system mayinclude the functionality to receive a large processing task, tosubdivide that large processing task into smaller tasks, and to directthe smaller processing tasks to processors on individual processingdevices. Over the network distribution system 340. The results of theindividual processing tasks may then be directed back to the devicemanagement system 350 over the network distribution system 340, andaggregated to complete the larger processing task.

Alternatively, the first subtask can be sent to a first group of theconsumer devices, and the second subtask can be sent to a second groupof the consumer devices. In this way, the subtasks can be processed onmore than one processor at the same time, which can provide increasedquality of service and fault tolerance.

The service provider or another entity may operate the elementsdescribed to provide the distributed processing. The distributedprocessing may be offered to entities outside the service providerorganization who need but do not have the large processing power.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system 400 that may be used in conjunction withembodiments of the present invention. Each of the elements of FIG. 4will contain the needed hardware and software to perform the describedfunctionality. Consumer devices 410, 412, etc. are connected to aregional distribution system 414. Other consumer devices may beconnected to other regional distribution systems, such as regionaldistribution system 416. Any number of regional distribution systems maybe used. The regional distribution systems may be part of one serviceprovider, or may be from separate service providers. The regionaldistribution systems are responsible for providing the interface witheach individual consumer device to the network aggregation system 419.Typically, the regional distribution systems will be geographicallydispersed.

Typically, a larger number of networks or systems must be aggregated ata central set of network facilities that have larger capacity. Thenetwork aggregation system 419 includes the components necessary tocombine any number of regional distribution systems into a smallercomposed set, or provide the inverse operation of fanning out a smallset of larger networks into many. Two way communication of signalsoccurs from the regional distribution systems to the network aggregationsystem 419.

The consumer devices have a primary function to support servicesprovided by content providers or other communication services. Theentertainment processing subsystem 422 is connected to the networkaggregation system 419 and abstracts all the necessary facilitiesrequired for the delivery of such services. For example, theentertainment processing subsystem 422 may include the necessaryfacilities for delivery of cable or satellite television services. Suchfacilities are well know and not described further here.

The central device control system 418 is connected to the networkaggregation system 419. The central device control system 418 isresponsible for managing the operational delivery of device parameters,signaling, security, and control state to the consumer electronicdevices for their proper operation on the service provider platform.

The central device network system 420 is connected to the networkaggregation system 419. The central device network system 420 mayinclude the network layer, physical layer, and control processing ofnetwork elements and their subsystems. This might include facilities tosupport internet protocol delivery over radio frequency broadband, fiberoptically, satellite, and wireless networking as well as digitalbroadcast streams over MPEG.

The device resource management 424 is connected to the central devicenetwork system 420, to the central device control system 418 and to theservice application process management system 430. The device resourcemanagement 424 is responsible for intelligently managing the consumerdevice resource pools as a function of dynamic device parametrics, suchas CPU load, memory utilization and device availability. The deviceresource management 424 interacts with the service application processmanagement system 430, providing real time data to optimize theexecution of the underlying network of consumer devices.

The process partitioning system 426 is connected to the central devicenetwork system 420, to the central device control system 418 and to theservice application process management system 430. Application processesare partitioned and then mapped onto device resources. Partitioning isthe task of taking a single virtualized service process, and breaking itup, where possible, into multiple processes which can be executed inparallel on different consumer devices. The process partitioning system426 also performs mapping in conjunction with real time data from thedevice resource management system 424 to optimally dispatch theindividual processes on the best set of consumer devices as determinedby service criteria metrics. Mapping criteria may be based in terms ofmeeting performance or fault tolerance targets. In the case of meeting aperformance target, process partitioning and mapping will be optimizedfor execution concurrency and time. Likewise, a fault tolerance targetwill require optimization for execution redundancy.

The device scheduling management system 428 is responsible for managingthe flow of processes in and out of the consumer devices. It controlswhen processes are executed and terminated. To facilitate this, thesystem will interact with the other systems described to insureprocesses are scheduled appropriately.

A service that will be executed is transposed into one or moreapplication processes which must be controlled, synchronized, managed,and executed. Thus, the service process management system 430 deals withthe lifecycle management of all processes associated with the set ofservices currently being executed and control of the other subsystemsinvolved with any work flow necessary for completion.

The service virtualization layer system 432 is responsible forsemantically expressing all computational and application services thatoutside entities can interact with. Typically a client outside thevirtualization layer will negotiate for access to a processing servicefor some fee. The service is then invoked and any responses areaggregated and provided back to the requesting client. The goal of thevirtualization layer is to provide a single transparent view of theunderlying consumer device application computation processing fabrichiding service implementation details. It also provides the interactionframework with outside entities for the purposes of providing andtransacting services.

The business services interface system 434 provides a well definedphysical interaction layer for the transacting of services between theservice provider and outside entities wishing to acquire services. Itdefines the protocols and mechanism for access and delivery of services.

Thus, the present invention provides for distributed processing on oneor more service provider networks. The service provider networks may beof the same type or different types. For example, one service providernetwork could be for delivery of cable television, while another serviceprovider network could be for delivery of cellular phone service.

The tasks or subtasks may be sent to the consumer devices over theservice provider networks in known formats such that they can berecognized by the processors on the consumer devices. For example, theprocessing tasks or subtasks could be sent in a series of packets, withappropriate header information and needed instructions to causeprocessing at the processor of the consumer device, and to direct theconsumer device to return the results. Additionally, the consumerdevices can have appropriate software loaded into their memory to causeproper receipt, processing and return of the tasks or subtasks. Thissoftware could be preloaded or downloaded to the consumer devices.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. In step 510, a service is provided from a serviceprovider network to the remotely located consumer devices capable ofreceiving the service. Each of the remotely located consumer devicesincludes a processing device. In step 520, distributed processing of atask on the processing devices of the remotely located consumer devicesoccurs. The distributed processing is unrelated to the service providedto the consumers. The distributed processing occurs even when theprocessing devices are in use by the corresponding remotely locatedconsumer devices.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. In step 610, a service is provided from a firstservice provider network to a first group of remotely located consumerdevices. In step 620, a service is provided from a second serviceprovider network to a second group of remotely located consumer devices.A task which is to be processed by distributed processing is broken intosubtasks. In step 630, distributed processing is caused on the consumerdevices, by sending a first subtask to a consumer device in the firstgroup of consumer devices, and sending a second subtask to a consumerdevice in the second group of consumer devices. The consumer devicesexecute the subtasks and send the results back to the service providernetworks, where the results can be aggregated as described above tocomplete processing of a tasks. Alternatively, the first subtask can besent to a first group of the consumer devices, and the second subtask issent to a second group of the consumer devices. In this way, thesubtasks can be processed on more than one processor at the same time,which can provide increased quality of service and fault tolerance.

Several embodiments of the present invention are specificallyillustrated and described herein. However, it will be appreciated thatmodifications and variations of the present invention are covered by theabove teachings and within the purview of the appended claims withoutdeparting from the spirit and intended scope of the invention.

1-21. (canceled)
 22. A system for providing a plurality of consumerdevice users, each user of the plurality of consumer device users havinga consumer device, with a consumer service from a consumer serviceprovider and for facilitating performing distributed processing of atask unrelated to the consumer service provided on at least one consumerdevice, the system comprising: at least one network distribution systemthat is structured and arranged to provide communication between theconsumer service provider and a plurality of consumer devices, eachconsumer device of the plurality of consumer devices having a processorthat is configured to receive the consumer service from the consumerservice provider and to perform distributed processing even when theprocessor is receiving and processing the consumer service; and aprocess partitioning system, communicating with the plurality ofconsumer devices via the at least one network distribution system, formapping each application process to optimally dispatch each applicationprocess to at least one discrete consumer device.
 23. The system ofclaim 22, wherein mapping of at least a portion of the applicationprocess to at least one discrete consumer device is based on servicecriteria metrics.
 24. The system of claim 23, wherein service criteriametrics are based on the mapping satisfying a performance target. 25.The system of claim 24, wherein the performance target includesoptimization of time of execution.
 26. The system of claim 24, whereinthe performance target includes optimization of execution concurrency.27. The system of claim 23, wherein service criteria metrics are basedon the mapping satisfying a fault tolerance target.
 28. The system ofclaim 27, wherein the fault tolerance target includes optimization forexecution redundancy.
 29. The system of claim 22 further comprising aresource management system that is structured and arranged to providethe process partitioning system with real-time distributed processingperformance data on each of the plurality of consumer devices.
 30. Thesystem of claim 22, wherein a first consumer device of the plurality ofconsumer devices communicates via a first consumer service providernetwork and a second consumer device of the plurality of consumerdevices communicates via a second consumer service provider network thatdiffers from the first consumer service provider network.
 31. The systemof claim 22 further comprising a device management system that isadapted to: receive an application processing task; subdivide theapplication processing task into a plurality of subtasks; assign eachsubtask of the plurality of subtasks to at least one consumer device ofthe plurality of consumer devices, wherein assignment is based onoptimal mapping performed by the process partitioning system; receivecompleted subtasks from each consumer device; and aggregate thecompleted subtasks to complete the processing task.
 32. The system ofclaim 31, wherein the device management system includes a networkaggregation system that is adapted to aggregate a plurality of networkdistribution systems.
 33. The system of claim 31, wherein assigning eachsubtask of the plurality of subtasks to at least one consumer device ofthe plurality of consumer devices includes assigning a first subtask toa first group of consumer devices and assigning a second subtask to asecond group of consumer devices.
 34. A consumer device for use in thesystem of claim 22, that is integrated into a service provider networkthat comprises a plurality of consumer devices for providing consumerdevice users with a consumer service and for facilitating distributedprocessing of at least one of a task and a subtask, the at least one ofa task and a subtask of the distributed processing being unrelated tothe consumer service, the consumer device comprising a processor that isadapted to receive the consumer service from the service provider and toperform distributed processing.
 35. A method for providing consumerdevice users with a consumer service from a consumer service providerand for facilitating distributed processing of a task on a plurality ofconsumer devices, the task of the distributed processing being unrelatedto the consumer service, the method comprising: providing communicationbetween the consumer service provider and some portion of the pluralityof consumer devices, each consumer device of the plurality of consumerdevices having a processor that is adapted to receive the consumerservice from the consumer service provider and to perform distributedprocessing even when the processor is receiving and processing theconsumer service, using at least one network distribution system;receiving at least one application process for distributed processing;and mapping each application process task of the at least oneapplication process to optimally dispatch some portion of eachapplication process to at least one discrete consumer device.
 36. Themethod of claim 35 further comprising concurrently providing consumerdevice users with a consumer service from a consumer service providerand for facilitating distributed processing of a task.
 37. The method ofclaim 35 further comprising providing a device management system that isconfigured to: receive an application processing task; subdivide theapplication processing task into a plurality of subtasks; assign, basedon the mapping, each subtask of the plurality of subtasks to at leastone consumer device of the plurality of consumer devices; receivecompleted subtasks from each consumer device; and aggregate thecompleted subtasks to complete the processing task.
 38. The method ofclaim 37, wherein assigning each subtask of the plurality of subtasks toat least one consumer device of the plurality of consumer devicesincludes assigning a first subtask to a first group of consumer devicesand assigning a second subtask to a second group of consumer devices.39. The method of claim 35 wherein mapping of a portion of theapplication process to at least one discrete consumer device is based onservice criteria metrics.
 40. The method of claim 39, wherein servicecriteria metrics are based on the mapping satisfying a performancetarget.
 41. The method of claim 40, wherein the performance targetincludes optimization of time of execution.
 42. The method of claim 40,wherein the performance target includes optimization of executionconcurrency.
 43. The method of claim 39, wherein service criteriametrics are based on the mapping satisfying a fault tolerance target.44. The method of claim 43, wherein the fault tolerance target includesoptimization for execution redundancy.